New Orleans Pelicans: Cheick Diallo impressive in debut against Los Angeles Clippers
Cheick Diallo played with energy and efficiency in his first real minutes of NBA action, posting 19 points and 10 rebounds while the New Orleans Pelicans lost to the Clippers.
On November 27, in what we expected to be the first of several such D-League call-ups, Cheick Diallo was recalled from the Austin Spurs while the New Orleans Pelicans were in Texas playing the Mavericks in their arena. He soon went back to Austin on December 5. However, his second assignment would only last five days, as the Pelicans went ahead and brought him back again this Wednesday. His first real chance came last night; with Anthony Davis taking a game off to rest, the Pelicans gave Diallo 30 minutes of NBA action against a championship contender– and it paid off.
More from Pelican Debrief
It can be reduced to this: Outside of the first couple weeks following Jrue Holiday’s return from a personal leave of absence, the Pelicans have not been a fun team to watch. When Anthony Davis gets going, his own dominance can be exciting, and it’s been incredible to see his improvements in marginal skill areas manifest themselves into a statistical portfolio that ranks at the top of the league this year.
The development of players like Tim Frazier and Buddy Hield has been a study session in grasping onto nuggets of positivity. A Tony Robbins clinic on fandom. But not a lot of fun overall.
Cheick Diallo, on the other hand, is incredibly fun, if only for the fact that he represents hope and stylistic change. Compared to the other non-Davis bigs, Diallo is a breath of fresh air– he can run the floor, fool around with a jump-shot, and defend the rim. The set he ran from the elbow with Langston Galloway to open the second quarter was so pretty. His quick development is a nice statement on how faith in the draft can benefit a team with roster construction problems.
The stats are sparkly, and will help build his mythology within the fanbase: “He scored how much on a team with DeAndre Jordan?”. It was a legitimately nice night for him, with a 19-10 double-double on 53.3% shooting. That he confidently made a couple open jumpers and added two “awareness steals” in the paint (I just made that up! Like it?) is a great sight to see.
Now is the hard part however, with his sterling debut ending in a 133-125 loss. He’ll have Anthony Davis (and Jrue Holiday for at least this season) to do the heavy lifting as he comes along, so obviously the result of a game should never sit on Diallo’s shoulders. But the rest of his teammates are still a problem, and need more time to gel.
So between Diallo’s need for extended minutes on a nightly basis, the expectation that players like E’Twaun Moore and Solomon Hill can still make good on their contracts, and the “work-in-progress” status of Buddy Hield’s game, it might make sense to drop the playoff charade altogether. If anything, that’s what last night showed us: On a night when Hill, Diallo, and Frazier all look great individually, it’s not close to enough. Individually great Davis performances end the same.
Call it tanking or whatever you want, but giving minutes to the guys from whom you actually want skill development in the end is clearly the best strategy here.
This article originally appeared on 
